CAT 2025 Sees 34,000 Fewer Registrations - Down Nearly 10% from Last Year

CAT 2025 Sees 34,000 Fewer Registrations - Down Nearly 10% from Last Year

Ongoing Event

CAT Admit Card Date:12 Nov' 25 - 30 Nov' 25

Suvam MaitiUpdated on 12 Nov 2025, 12:30 PM IST

According to the latest notification, the 2.95 lakh candidates will be able to download the CAT 2025 admit card from the official website- iimcat.ac.in. Moreover, the CAT 2025 admit card is released on the IIM CAT official website. Last year, 3.29 lakhs applicants had completed the CAT registration 2024, while 2.93 lakhs candidates appeared for the CAT examination. So, compared to last year, there are approximately 34 thousand fewer CAT registrations this year. This year, CAT 2025 registration started on August 01, 2025, and candidates were able to fill up the CAT 2025 application till September 20, 2025. CAT 2025 will be held on November 30 for MBA admission to IIMs, IITs. NITs, and over 1000 B-schools of the country. Explore the article to learn more about the CAT 2025 application number over the years, the CAT 2025 admit card date, etc.
CAT 2025 Admit Card Download Link

LiveIIM CAT 2025 LIVE: MBA entrance test tomorrow in three shifts; download admit card at iimcat.ac.inNov 29, 2025 | 6:43 PM IST

As per the NIRF Rankings 2025, the top five management institutes in India are IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode, IIT Delhi, and IIM Lucknow. In the top 10, two more IIMs – Calcutta and Indore – have also bagged a place.

Grabbing an MBA seat in the top IIMs has been all the more difficult, especially with the introduction of CAT sectional cut-offs and addition of diverse factors such as academic performance and work experience, gender diversity and beyond.

IIM

2020 Final selection

2025 Final selection

What changed?

IIM Ahmedabad

CAT 25%;

PI 50%;

WAT 10%;

Academics 15%

CAT 25%;

PI 50%;

WAT 10%;

Academic rating (AR) 15% (unchanged).


BUT sectional cutoff raised in 2025 (higher VARC, DILR, QA minimum percentiles).

Final weightage unchanged. However, shortlisting became much stricter in 2025.

Over CAT cut-off 2025 increased from 80 to 95.

Sectional CAT cut-off from 70 to 85.

IIM Bangalore

CAT - 25%

PI - 30%

WAT - 10%

Class 10 - 10%

Class 12 - 5%

Work - 10%

Diversity - 2%

CAT - 25%

PI - 40%

WAT - 10%

Class 10 score - 5%

Class 12 score - 5%

Bachelor's degree score - 5%

Work experience - 10%

CAT scores carry 25% at final stage. While a tiny weightage difference in other factors

IIM Kozhikode

CAT - 44%

PI - 44%

Resume, Academic and work experience - 12%

WAT - Dropped

Last year:

CAT - 35%

PI: 35%

WAT - 20%

Resume score - 10%

WAT was reintroduced and weightage for CAT scores reduced.

IIM Lucknow

CAT 30%

PI 40%

WAT 10%

Class 12 - 5%

Graduation - 5%

Diversity 5%

Work experience - 5%

CAT - 30%

PI - 40%

WAT - 10%

Academics performance - 10%

Diversity - 5%

Work experience - 5%

No major change.

Read More

This Story also Contains

  1. CAT 2025 Registration: Decline in Numbers?
  2. CAT Registration over the Years 2025 vs 2024 vs 2023 vs 2022 vs 2021
  3. CAT Registration vs CAT Exam Day Turn Up: 2025 vs 2024 vs 2023
  4. CAT 2025 Admit Card Date Postponed
CAT 2025 Sees 34,000 Fewer Registrations - Down Nearly 10% from Last Year
CAT 2025 Sees 34,000 Fewer Registrations - Down Nearly 10% from Last Year

CAT 2025 Registration: Decline in Numbers?

As per the latest update by the CAT 2025 conducting body, IIM Kozhikode says CAT 2025 admit card has been generated for 2.95 lakh candidates. IIM Kozhikode has not published any specific numbers regarding how many students have registered for the CAT 2025, but rather has mentioned the number of students who can download the admit card.

CAT Registration over the Years 2025 vs 2024 vs 2023 vs 2022 vs 2021

While in 2024, 2.93 lakhs candidates appeared for the CAT examination, in 2025, 2.95 lakhs candidates has issued the CAT 2025 admit card. The table below shows the CAT registration trends over the years.

Year

CAT Conducting IIMs

Total CAT registrations

Total Students Appeared for the CAT exam

2025

IIM Kozhikode

2.95 Lakhs (Eligible to download Admit Card)

-

2024

IIM Calcutta

3.29 Lakhs

2.93 Lakhs

2023

IIM Lucknow

3.28 Lakhs

2.88 Lakhs

2022

IIM Bangalore

2.55 Lakhs

2.22 Lakhs

2021

IIM Ahmedabad

2.30 Lakhs

1.90 Lakhs

2020

IIM Indore

2.30 Lakhs

1.90 Lakhs

CAT Registration vs CAT Exam Day Turn Up: 2025 vs 2024 vs 2023

Going by the trends of the previous years, it is expected that 87-89% of the CAT 2025 registrations will appear on the day of the examination. So if there is no further alteration in the CAT 2025 admit card download numbers, it is expected that applicants between 2.62 lakhs to 2.56 lakhs will appear for the CAT 2025 examination. Check out the table below for trends regarding CAT registration vs the CAT exam day turn-ups of the previous years.

Year

Total CAT registrations

Total Students Appeared for the CAT exam

% of students appearing for the CAT

2025

2.95 Lakhs (Eligible to download Admit Card)

-

87-89% (based on trends)

2024

3.29 Lakhs

2.93 Lakhs

89

2023

3.28 Lakhs

2.88 Lakhs

87.8

2022

2.55 Lakhs

2.22 Lakhs

87

2021

2.30 Lakhs

1.90 Lakhs

83.4

2020

2.30 Lakhs

1.90 Lakhs

83.4

CAT 2025 Admit Card Date Postponed

The CAT 2025 admit card has been released on November 12, 2025, from 12:00 PM. The new CAT admit card release date 2025 is November 12, 2025. Here are the other CAT 2025 important dates.

CAT 2025 Registration Started

August 01, 2025

The CAT Application 2025 ended

September 20, 2025

CAT 2025 Admit Card Release Date

November 12, 2025

CAT 2025 Examination

November 30, 2025

CAT 2025 Result

December 19/20, 2025

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

Hello,

Here are Documents Required for CUSAT CAT (NRI Quota):

  1. Academic Documents includes (Class 10-mark sheet, Class 12-mark sheet, Transfer Certificate)
  2. NRI Sponsorship Documents
  3. Other Supporting Documents (Candidate’s passport, Proof of residence abroad)

To know more access below mentioned link:

https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/cusat-cat-application-form

Hope it helps.

You can get the previous year's CUSAT CAT papers in pdf format sample papers from careers360 article. Follow the link given below from careers360 to get the the CUSAT CAT previous years question papers.

Link- https://engineering.careers360.com/articles/cusat-cat-sample-papers

Hello,

Since the CAT application form correction window is closed, you must contact the CAT help desk immediately to explain the situation, as you can't edit a wrong date of birth after submission. If it's a major error like date of birth, you may need to go to the exam center with proof and the correct admit card, although getting it corrected before the exam date is the most important first step.

I hope it will clear your query!!

Hi there,

You have to apply separately for each symbiosis college, like SIBM Pune, as they as not automatically included. The CAT form automatically includes many IIMs, but the SNAP exam is a separate test that is given for admission to Symbiosis Institute, which requires its own separate application and fee.

Hope it helps!!!

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